SECU Foundation Lauded for $5 Million Gift

A $5 million gift to an Asheville, N.C., hospital has earned the $25.3 billion, 1.8-million member State Employees’ Credit Union an award from the Western North Carolina Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

The group recently presented the SECU Foundation its 2012 Outstanding Business in Philanthropy award in recognition of the foundation’s gift to the and tribute to SECU Foundation’s $5 million gift to the SECU Cancer Center at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C.

The 2010 gift was credited with helping to spur Mission Healthcare Foundation’s successful fundraising campaign for the cancer center, which opened in November 2011.

The SECU Foundation said it has granted more than $6.5 million to western North Carolina causes in the past five years, including the Jackson County Public Library Complex, Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care in Caldwell County, Yancey County Library SECU Information Gateway in Yancey County and Hospice and Palliative Care of Iredell County.

“Our members, who solely fund the SECU Foundation, are truly compassionate and committed to making a positive difference in the lives of North Carolinians and their communities,” said Jim Barber, SECU Foundation board chair.